A Soul's Song
by gothic-musings
Summary: Erik visits Christine at a time she needed and wanted him the most.


AN: Hey guys, I just sorta panned this out when I sat and listened to a random song I downloaded the other day. The song Erik sings is "Riverdance (Cloudsong)" by Riverdance. It's got a Celtic dance at the end but the words the child is singing at the beginning I thought were really fitting. Hope you all enjoy and please read and review!

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Christine turned her head in bed and noticed that the bedroom window was slightly ajar. A cool summer breeze fluttered the pale ivory curtain and she smiled as she caught the faint scent of rose and something woodland on the wind. "I know you're there. Come out where I can see you." A lone figure stepped quietly from the shadows, his arms crossed in front of his form and the hem of his cape moving at the gust of air formed as he walked toward her bedside. "I knew you'd…" she managed before she burst into a coughing fit. The fit beckoned him to her side faster as he kneeled beside her and brought a handkerchief from thin air and placed it at her lips to catch the dribble of blood. He dabbed lightly, his face set in a stern expression with green eyes ablaze with worry. The left side betrayed his heart as a solitary tear trailed down his pale cheek, the other side covered in white porcelain and revealing nothing.

When the fit subsided, she placed her hand on top of his, such a small thing in comparison to his. She'd begun to waste away in her sickness, her limbs and face were thin and drawn, pale shadows of their former glory. Christine smiled as best she could for him, putting on her own mask to cover the pain she had dwelled in for the last week. "Will you stay by my side tonight? You know as well as I that this will be my last night." He spoke no words but merely nodded in response. There was an empty space in the large bed where her husband normally lay, but he had been ill himself and had been taken away to a hospital for better treatment just two days before. He walked to the vacated space and stared down at it for a moment. A space he'd wanted to fill even to this day and here he stood with the presented opportunity, and he almost lost his nerve. Steeling himself, he slipped off his cape and let it fall to the floor before he sank into the soft mattress beside her. Drawing her frail body against his own, she rested her head against his chest, listening to his heart beat.

She'd never heard it until now, and she mused about the rhythm. When she inhaled, his beat increased. When he heard the steady breathing of her lungs, he relaxed from the knowledge that she had not yet left him. When she reached her hand up and caressed his cool cheek, it skipped. Such a curious thing the heart could be. "Will you sing for me one last time? I wish for my angel's voice to wing me to my final rest." Again, he said nothing and nodded in response. Christine closed her eyes and tucked herself against him more, letting a smile ghost across her lips. He wet his lips with the tip of his tongue and took in a breath and began.

"_Hear my cry,_

_In my hungering search for you,_

_Taste my breath on the wind,_

_See the sky as it mirrors my colors,_

_Hints and whispers begin."_

He tilted his head until his lips brushed against her forehead, tasting a trace of sweat left from her coughing fit. He took another breath and began again.

"_I am living to nourish you, cherish you,_

_I am pulsing the blood in your veins,_

_Feel the magic and power surrender to life." _

"Every finger is touching and searching," he sang as he tiptoed his fingers over the hand that rested on his chest, "until your secrets come out. In the dance, as it endlessly circles…" He sank into the bed further until he was face to face with Christine. He reached up and removed his mask from his face and laid it on top of her pillow. He took her hand in his and placed it on the marred skin, their pair of hands caressing his scars together. "I linger close to your mouth," he whispered against her lips before placing a tender kiss against them. And his voice fell silent as he pulled back and blinked.

His mouth gaped as his eyes lingered on her pale skin for too long. He had to finish the song; he'd made the silent promise to her just moments ago. "I am living to nourish you…" his voice cracking as tears streaked down his cheeks. "che-e-rish you." He wiped away the tears with the back of his hand, and took a moment to just breathe. When he had collected himself, he cleared his throat and sang out the last two lines for his angel, his Christine.

"_I am pulsing the blood in your veins,_

_Feel the magic and power surrender to life."_

Erik had finished. He had sung his angel to her final rest as he had promised. He extracted himself from her embrace, rolling her gently to lie on her back and crawled out of the bed. He lifted his cape from the floor and fastened it on his shoulders, and then stopped to look at his beloved. He reached above her head to his mask. He lifted it and placed it on her stomach and solemnly folded her hands on top of it. Touching his lips to her forehead one final time, he kissed her, taking with him that linger scent of flowers she'd always possessed. He exited the room in the same manner as he had entered: silent and swift and swallowed up by the night. When at last he was on the edge of her balcony, he leaned against the wall and collapsed in his grief.


End file.
